Greece finally growing, but taxes crushing new businesses

by Derek Gatopoulos

Associated Press
October 31, 2017

If Greek business needed a role model, Stathis Stasinopoulos would make an ideal candidate.

An athlete, engineer, and entrepreneur, he invented an easy-folding bicycle design and began building them himself and created a small company. The project was shortlisted for a national start-up award in 2014 and, the following year, he peddled onto the stage to applause to give a motivational speech.

Today, he has some advice for young Greeks with a good idea: "Get your passport and leave."

In July, Stasinopoulos took his family and dream of a self-made business and moved them from Athens to bicycle-friendly Bremen, a city in northwest Germany. Years of effort had been crushed by high taxes and outdated bureaucracy.

"There are a number of reasons why I made the move. Many of them have to do with taxes," Stasinopoulos said, speaking at the small workshop of his newly-registered German firm, Velo Lab GmbH.

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